iPad - At last in Glorious HD

Horse & Hound | Now in Glorious HD

OK, a slight deviation from eventing, but the all new iPad is worthy of a little diversion particularly for eventers & eventing followers forever on the road. Usually I am an 'early adopter' of technology - I love tinkering with new technology, but I have resisted buying an iPad until now as there was so much more I felt it needed, like a high definition screen, and meaty processor, both of which have now been delivered in the latest version that launched in stores yesterday.

This model really does live up to the hype, the screen resolution is phenomenal! 16 megapixel photos from my camera look stunning, and reveal even more detail that you thought possible. It really does have to be seen to be believed, and the richness of colours is truly life like, makes other devices look fussy in comparison. New photo & video editing apps make it really useful for quick uploads from the field. Plenty of apps are, understandably, lagging behind fully supporting the high definition screen, but I'm pleased to report the digital version of the Horse & Hound scales up nicely - no more paper version for me. If I can persuade IPC Media to release Eventing Magazine into the ether now I'll be all set.


British Eventing has also released their in house magazine to the apple platform as a subscription on News Stand, and the USEF has their magazine and other content in an app of their own.

For those on the road constantly, this device is incredibly useful. It fully supports the new 4G LTE cellular data protocols which means super fast internet access. So far the US, Sweden and a few countries in the far east have viable 4G networks up and running, but even those of us still on 3G networks this iPad supports the faster versions of 3G.

Every month more apps are released that prove useful to eventers. The two course walk apps (Cross Country & CourseWalk) are finding new and practical uses, and as I write Cross Country is preparing to release a version that supports the new higher resolution of this iPad. Several events have now joined Badminton in releasing an app for the iPhone, and in some cases the Android platform. Next month Badminton releases a special version of their app for the iPad plus new features for iPad, iPhone & Android. I will also be releasing a new app in the coming weeks that I think many eventers are going to love.

Add to all this the ability to keep up with email, twitter, your favourite blogs, newspapers, magazines, give presentations, upload your  and all manner of day to day things, and once you've bought one you'll never look back. If you're looking for cost justification I have just one thing to say, you can't buy back time, it's irreplaceable! This device more than any other will save you time, money, and save a few trees to boot! Failing that search eBay for an iPad 2, they'll be cheap as chips now.


Posted from my shiny new HD iPad!